Method of making pipe-bends.



1 CHAR]. 5 H. TRUE 7 M5111. Tfi/MBLE MS [(55 BY a M WW AITOR/VEYS C. H. TRUE & NfT. MCKEE,

METHOD OF MAKlNG PIPE BENDS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26. 1915. 1,155,]. 19, PatentedSept. 28, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES INVE/V TOHS C. H. TRUE & N. T. McKEE.

METHOD OF MAKING PIPE BENDS.,

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26. 19l5.

1,155,1 10., PatentedSept. 28, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES 7. l of Ms-M yT/P/MELE na /r55 A TTOR/VEYS OF NEW YORK,

METHOD OF MAKING PIPE-BENDS.

Application filed March 26, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CIIARLns H. TRUE and NEAL TRIMBLE MoKnn, both citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at

ammond, Indiana, and at Yonkers, New York, have invented certain new and useful mprovements in Methods of Making Pipe-Bends, of which the following is a specification.

ur invention relates to a method of making pipe bends, and particularly to amethod of making what are commonly known as U-shaped bends, which are to be used in connection with boilers, superheaters and heating apparatus generally and exposed to high temperatures, or which are to be used to carry steam or fluids under pressure.

ore particularly our invention comprises a step in the method of making pipe bends as specified from two independent pipe lengths, our improvement presupposing that said lengths are already united at their ends by a connecting web or channel but that the extreme end of the united pipe lengths is still open.

In the specification which follows we have described our improved method as applied to the incomplete pipe bend which is obtained as a result of certain initial steps set forth in the method disclosed in our application for LettersPatent No. 835,360, filed April 30, 1914. In such prior application two pipe lengths are arranged parallel to one another, and their adjacent walls slitted. shaped and welded together so as to 'constitute a pipe bend complete except for closing the extreme end and shaping its contour; in said specification certain general methods are described for effecting this closure and shaping.

ur invention now to .be described consists of a novel and particular method of effecting this final closure and shaping.

The object of our invention is to provide a definite, certain and easily applied method for-finally closing and shaping the end of the pipe bend which method may be practised by comparatively unskilled labor by utilizing usual mechanical process and tools of known character. I

Our invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings in whieh- Figure 1 represents an incomplete pipe Specification of Letters Patent.

the aid of any preferred Patented Sept. 28, 1915. Serial no. 17,147.

bend as it is about to be subjected to the firststep of our present improved method; Fig. 2 represents a cross section taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 represent, in edge view and plan. the incomplete bend of Fig. 1 after the first step in the method has been carried out; Fig. 5 is an end view taken from the right of Fig. 4, v

with the shaping cone removed; Fig. (5 is an elevation, part section, showing the bend as it appears at the end of the next step or swaging operation Fig. 7 shows the bend as its final closure is being effected; Fig. 8 shows the bend of Fig. 7 as it is about to be pressed fiat; and Figs. 9 and 10 show edge and plan views, respectively, of the completed bend.

In the drawings the incomplete pipe bend 1 is constituted of two pipe united for a certain distance from their ends by a connecting yoke or channel 4; the ex-- treme end of this incomplete bend is open and has the outline shown in Fig. 2. The incomplete bend, as thus shown, is the result of certain steps in the method described in our prior application above referred to.

The first operation in our present ime proved process is to give the open end of the incomplete bend a circular section instead of the elongated section which it possesses, at the start. To accomplish this we insert cen- 6 whose periphery has the same length as the periphery'of the incomplete bend at its end. The tip 7 of the cone is elliptical and the intermediate portion of the cone tapers uniformly between the circular disk 6 and the elliptical tip. The shaping I pressed home into the incomplete bend by operating die 8 is best used' with some suitruns,

lengths 2 and 3 r now removed and the cirable machine. The character of the swaging process is as usual and the bend should be rotated while the swaging proceeds. The swaging process will leave a narrow cleft 9 at right angles to the plane of the pipes and this has now to be closed. For effecting this closure 'we prefer to use a welding hammer 10, the end of the bend, in the vicinity of the cleft, being'first heated to Welding heat.

After the swaging and cleft closing steps have been completed the bend will have the form shown in Figs. 6 and 7, that'is to say, while its contour is approximately correct in the plane of the two pipes, it will bulge at right angles to the two pipes; this bulgingis due of course, to the-initial spreading producedby the shaping cone. We, therefore, now place the bend, after suitably heat-' ing the same, in a suitable press as shown in Fig. 8. Eiiective surfaces of this pressare given a shape complementary to the shape which it is desired that the bend shall finally;possess, that is to say, they will be suitably grooved and curved to correspond with the desired final curves of the pipe bend. They will also be provided with a suitable rib portion 11 by means of which the walls of the yoke or passage i may be suitably depressed below the imaginary planes which will contact, on each side of the bend, with outside of the pipes 2 and 3. There is thus provided the very advantageous form of pipe bend disclosed and discussed in our prior'application referred to.

The cleft 9, left at the tip of the bend after the swaging has been completed, need not necessarily be closed by a welding ham- 4 at the inside of the open end I said end a circular contour,

pipe bends from an incomplete bend as described which comprises giving the open end a circular contour, then swaglng and shaping'the end, closing the remalning cleft by welding, and then pressing the end into final shape. a

2. The improvement in the art of'making ipe bends from an incomplete bend as described which comprises applying pressure so as to give then contracting and shaping said end by outside pressure, closing the remaining cleft by Welding, and then shaping the end by pressures applied at right angles to the plane of the bend.

3. The improvement in theart of making pipe bends from an incomplete bend as described which comprises reshaping the open end by the insertionof 'a tapered shaping tool, then swaging down said end and finally closing and shaping said end.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands each in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES H. TRUE. NEAL TRIMBLE MGKEE.

Witnesses as to Charles H. True:

KATE EMERY, THOMAS PHILLIPS.

VVitnes'ses asto Neal T rimble McKee:

JAMES K. ScoTT, JOHN P. MGJILT N. 

